'DAMMIT!'
His current condition was anything but good.
He never expected an easy fight from the start, but after pushing him so far, he didn't expect the human Demigod to still have the energy to kill himself so spectacularly!
In his current state, he couldn't do anything.
It would take at least several years to heal his crippled body, let alone his soul.
It was terrible.
Especially considering their current location.
If he was able to devour his own kind, he could heal far faster, but in this place, there were rarely beings weaker than him, especially not those willing to give up their lives for his sake.
'Dammit!'
That battle wasn't supposed to end this way.
At the beginning, it was a group battle. There were six of them, and they attacked a group of three universe Demigods after believing in their numbers advantage.
But, of course, that was their mistake.
Among those three, one was extremely powerful. He was a man who, by himself, was able to take three from their group alone.
He and the human Demigod confronted each other during this collision, and he originally believed he could quickly kill the man and escape, but who would've thought their laws were so similar?
In the end, he was left in this state.
Perhaps the enemy was dead, but the humiliation he suffered far outweighed that fact.
'Dammit!'
Regardless, he had to get out of here.
After that attack, the mountainous area was reduced to a plain, and anyone who passed by would be able to see his corpse-like figure and easily slaughter him.
He called forth the little mana he had and placed it into the tips of his fingers.
He used his only remaining arm to drag himself across the flat plain as his awareness spread in search of a hiding place.
Crunch!
"ARGH!"
The timing was perfect.
A being appeared in his perception at the same time they arrived before him.
He looked up, using his single remaining eye to look at who'd found him in this unlucky position.
Whether it was enemy or ally, they would kill him.
He wasn't able to escape his–
"Lower…existence…?"
His eyes widened.
This man…wasn't he a Supreme?!
Hope appeared in the Nox Demigod's eye.
If it was a lower existence, even with his little power…?
He reached up and grabbed the man's ankle with a grin.
"Kekeke…thank you…for the meal!"
He pushed all the Divine Energy in his fingers into the lower existence's body.
Even if it was negligible, it was more than enough to crush this man to nothingness.
And using the power he received, he'd at least regain the ability to move properly!
Or at least, that was how it was intended to go.
"T-this…"
His expression turned uglier than it naturally was with his disfigured appearance.
Why wasn't anything happening?
He looked up into a pair of amethyst eyes that stared down at him coldly.
That man finally spoke.
"Thanks for that, but I'm good. You can have it back."
BOOM!
The Ananta Matrix revolved and expunged the Divine Energy just like before, but this time, it directly targeted the felled Demigod!
His own Divine Energy returned to his body seeking revenge. It tore his already broken systems apart even more, and made it almost impossible for him to think.
"Oh? You're still alive? Well, that's good. I wanted to do it myself anyway."
Damien knelt down and placed his hand on the Nox Demigod's head.
With that last burst of Divine Energy, the Demigod was definitely weak enough to die by his hand.
"Become my power. Please and thank you."
Void Mana invaded the Nox Demigod's systems and devoured everything that remained.
The energy of nothingness, enhanced by the "nonexistence" in Damien's memory, was impossible to resist.
The Nox Demigod's body slowly turned to ash, not ink. His memories and power rushed into Damien's body as he smiled:
"That was easier than I thought."
The Nox Demigod died easily, but with his last memory being such a humiliating defeat, would he have peace in the afterlife?
Definitely not.
He would rot as he was meant to.
Damien's eyes glimmered with realization.
'That shouldn't have been so easy regardless of his state. It should've taken much longer to break him down and devour him. But since it didn't…'
"I guess my power increased more than I thought."
If it was like this…
If it was the weakest possible version of them…
"...maybe I could do it on my own?"
Damien shook his head wryly.
He could think about that when the time came, but for now…
'This guy's memories are great for me. Let's see what the Ancient Battlefield is all about.'
***
Damien's position was truly unfortunate.
He appeared randomly on the Ancient Battlefield, completely away from the intended starting point of the Demigods who were meant to be here.
Well, it wasn't for no reason.
His existence here was already a problem.
The only assumption he could make was that he got caught in the teleportation by mistake.
The Saint Emperor's arm was through his chest when the man got teleported away. If direct contact was enough to affect the displacement, there would be many more lower existences here, but the key was that it wasn't just Damien's body, but his corpse.
If he was registered by the universe as a non-living thing, it wasn't hard to understand why he'd been caught up in the phenomenon.
But that was beside the point.
He was lucky enough to be completely separated from anything of value when he arrived here.
In reality, the Ancient Battlefield was structured something like a game arena.
This grayish-black rocky terrain encompassed the majority of its territory, as this material was best for absorbing the shocks of these Divine clashes, but it wasn't all there was.
In fact, there were three sites of note on the map.
The first two were the base camps of the two opposing sides.
These weren't set up by the fighters themselves, but by the realm.
They were bases of operation and also the "spawn points" where they would find themselves immediately upon arrival.
Naturally, from the Nox Demigod's memories, he could only see the Nox side's base. Nobody was stupid enough to charge the enemy's fortress, as both sides were aware of their power balance.
However, just looking at the base put him in awe. It was quite the magisterial structure.
But, it wasn't nearly comparable to the third.
The third structure in this realm was a massive bordered area in the very center of the realm.
It looked like a river, but was as wide as an ocean. There were several white platforms that floated on its surface like lily pads, giving it an overall air of importance.
'According to this guy's memories, that place can't be accessed until certain conditions are met, but this idiot didn't bother to figure out what the conditions were. How annoying…'
It was surely going to be important at some point, but Damien decided to put it aside until he could find the answer naturally.
'The Nox are relatively unworried at the moment. It's not like they don't have a reason, though…'
The Nox didn't just have their own troops, after all.
Those traitors who succumbed to temptation and accepted the Nox's power also spawned on their side, and it was the perfect time to use them as cannon fodder.
'On top of that, people like Immortal Blood Asura will mess things up from the inside.'
Damien shook his head.
'The overall situation isn't in our favor, but it's also not impossible to win. The Emperors haven't made a move yet, so for now, it should be okay for me to move around.'
Damien gained a comprehensive understanding of his environment through those memories, and the situation itself was something that would change so frequently that its current state didn't matter.
'For now, there are more important things to focus on.'
He needed to find a way to survive.
But just running and hiding would never give him security.
Even the universe's base camp couldn't offer him absolute safety until its hidden evils were eliminated.
So it was time for him to test out that theory.
'Strangely enough, I don't have any doubts.'
Damien grinned.
If his life was on the line anyway, then it was better to do everything he could to survive.
He was not willing to die a meaningless death!
